Exposition

Collected Creativities (2024)

Emma Hedrick

About this exposition

When starting a composition, waiting for the fabled “inspiration to hit” can be unreliable at best and frustrating at worst. To investigate this issue, I look at how experts in other art disciplines approach the practice of creativity, specifically when beginning a new project, which, in composition, equates to starting a new piece. This paper explores how encounters with six creativity exercises originating from the disciplines of writing, choreography, and visual art can result in new possible approaches to jazz composition. The approaches explored include a Daily Method from author Julia Cameron, an Animal Method from poet Ted Hughes, a Haiku Method from authors Linda Anderson and Derek Neale, an Improvisational Method from choreographer Twyla Tharp, a Habit Method from choreographer Jonathan Burrows, and a Modeling Method from visual artist Austin Kleon. Throughout my research, I tested these six methods in my compositional practice and recorded the musical outcomes. I then shared three methods with musical colleagues to try before collecting their thoughts. In each method, I will recount my writing process using the method, my journal entries, and my overall thoughts. In the animal, haiku, and improvisation methods, I will also compare this to the experience of my colleagues. Each section will conclude with a musical work created from the method and my own evaluation of the resulting composition. The research demonstrates viable conceptual strategies for approaching jazz composition derived from other art disciplines and suggests that creative practice can be both accessible and sustainable over the long term.
typeresearch exposition
keywordscreative practice, creativity, composition, Jazz Voice
date12/02/2024
published06/09/2024
last modified06/09/2024
statuslimited publication
share statusprivate
copyrightEmma Hedrick
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2555766/2555770
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/koncon.2555766
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects

References

  • Anderson, Linda, and Derek Neale, Writing Fiction (Routledge, 2009)
  • Blackburn, John, and Karl Suessdorf, “Moonlight in Vermont”, ed. by (Michael H Goldsen, 1945)
  • Burrows, Jonathan, A Choreographer’s Handbook (Routledge, 2010)
  • Cameron, Julia, Artist’s Way: 25th Anniversary Edition (Penguin Books, 2016)
  • Davis, Sheila, The Craft of Lyric Writing (Onmibus, 1989)
  • Fodor, David, “Student Composition in Your Jazz Program” <https://jazzednet.org/resources/infusing-student-composition-into-your-jazz-program/> [accessed 12 November 2023]
  • Hughes, Ted, Poetry in the Making: An Anthology of Poems and Programmes from Listening and Writing (London: Faber, 1990)
  • Kleon, Austin, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (Workman Publishing Company, 2012)
  • Lally, Phillippa, Cornelia H. van Jaarsveld, Henry W. Potts, and Jane Wardle, “How Are Habits Formed: Modelling Habit Formation in the Real World”, European Journal of Social Psychology, 40 no. 6 (John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd., 2009) <https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674>
  • Malewitz, Raymond, What Is Anaphora?||Definition &Amp; Examples (Corvallis: College of Liberal Arts, Oregon State, 2023) <https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-anaphora.>
  • Mayer, John, Come Back to Bed
  • Mayer, John, Daughters
  • Mayer, John, Edge of Desire
  • Mayer, John, Neon
  • Milkowski, Bill, “One Future, Two Views”, 2000 <https://wyntonmarsalis.org/news/entry/wynton-marsalis-one-future-two-views>
  • Pearce, Marcus, and Geraint Wiggins, “Towards a Framework for the Evaluation of Machine Compositions”, Proceedings of Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Creativity in the Arts and Sciences., N/A (Department of Computing, City University, 2001)
  • Pease, Ted, Jazz Composition: Theory and Practice (Boston: Berklee Press, 2003)
  • Sternberg, Robert, and Todd Lubart, Defying the Crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity (Free Press, 1995)
  • Sullivan, Patrick, “The UnEssay: Making Room for Creativity in the Composition Classroom”, College Composition and Communication, 67 no.1 (National Council of Teachers of English, 2015), pp. 6-34
  • Tharp, Twyla, and Mark Reiter, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life: A Practical Guide (New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 2006)
  • Unknown, Unknown, “Artist Chuck Close Writes Note to Younger Self” <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxR3ELuZjLw&amp;ab_channel=CBS.> [accessed 6 November 2023]
  • Unknown, Unknown, “The Project” <https://www.24stops.info/en/the-project/> [accessed 26 November 2022]
  • Vazquez, Christina, “Wild Macaw Parrots Need to Be Protected from Poachers in Miami-Dade, Residents Say” <https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/06/18/wild-macaw-parrots-need-to-be-protected-from-poachers-in-miami-dade-residents-say/.> [accessed 28 January 2023]
  • Walia, Chetan, “A Dynamic Definition of Creativity”, Creativity Research Journal, 3 (Taylor &amp; Francis, Inc., 2019), pp. 237-47 <https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2019.1641787>

Copyrights


Comments are only available for registered users.